


A Grudge The Size of a Short Story

by bearrightsactivist



Category: X-Ray & Vav (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Season 2 Rewrite, Swearing, villain x-ray au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-06 11:17:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5414798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearrightsactivist/pseuds/bearrightsactivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>X-Ray never expected Vav to leave him behind for a girl.<br/>But to his credit, Vav never expected X-Ray to join up with their worst enemies and try to destroy him as a result.<br/>Oops?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

X-Ray wakes up to find his suit thrown on his face, and he's not sure what he finds more annoying: that it's his suit, and it's on his face, or that this is a regular occurrence in his life.  


When he pulls it off, he sees that Vav is already barging in and out of his room, cape billowing out behind him as he scrambles around, stuffing his equipment in his overundies. Raising his head, X-Ray glares first at the clock on his nightstand (It reads 2:46, a fact he is not happy about), then at Vav. "You're the worst alarm clock I've ever had. What's happening?"  


"Crime!" is Vav's enthusiastic response, yelled through a mouthful of granola bar, which is possibly the only breakfast he'll get. He stops bouncing around for a moment to point at the TV in the room emphatically, and X-Ray sighs and gets up to look for his glasses.  


"You're gonna have to clarify," he says, putting them on and glancing disinterestedly at the screen. "Is there a crime happening, or are you telling me to commit a crime? Because, y'know, I'm just about ready to murder you right now."  


His goal was to get Vav to slow down and give him more time to blink the sleep out of his eyes, and he achieves it. Vav stops and gives him an exaggerated hurt expression, then a grin when he bursts out laughing, unable to stay angry. His hair's a spiky mess and he's still clumsy with sleep, but his face is bright, like it always is when he hears about a crime and it's in their power to stop. X-Ray begrudgingly admits that his enthusiasm is contagious. And maybe a little endearing. As he gets dressed, Vav launches into an explanation- something about someone or other threatening to drench a mob of citizens in grape juice. "If we hurry, we can still take the transit," he ends breathlessly.  


X-Ray says just what he thinks about the public transportation system under his breath as he pulls on his boots, then, more loudly, complains "Man, do we have to?"  


"There's a crime in progress, X-Ray!" Vav says indignantly, shifting his weight from foot to foot in anticipation. X-Ray follows him out of the room and through the house, dragging his feet and crossly wondering how Vav manages to have so much energy at this time of night, and whether or not he should just get over himself and drink some coffee. But before he's done weighing his options, they've left his house, and Vav insists on running to make sure they catch the bus. He stumbles along, muttering cuss words, and collapses on a bus seat as soon as they're inside, maybe a little too dramatically, because Vav gives him a look. He sits up with a huff.  


It's 3 in the morning and he's already annoyed.  


And it really does _not_ improve his mood when they step out of the bus, finally, and find their perpetrator crawling away from the scene, trailing blood and grape juice behind him.  


Vav gives him another look, this one quizzical and slightly panicked, but then X-Ray's gaze shifts past him, and he sees the person responsible. Before he can even fully take him in, indignant words are spilling out of his mouth. "What the hell, bro? This is our turf!"  


Then the person turns around, and Vav makes an awkward squawking noise, and the insult X-Ray was going to say dies in his mouth. The dude's wearing a bear's decapitated head as a hat, and he doesn't have a shirt, and he looks like he could bench press a car. Or the previously mentioned bear's corpse, actually. X-Ray swallows, throat suddenly dry. The terrifying bear murderer gives him withering look, and, thankfully, turns to leave.  


And then Vav steps forward and calls out to him. "Excuse us!" The guy doesn't turn around, but Vav persists. "Sir, we're talking to you!"  


Hell, if Vav can stand up to him, then X-Ray can, too.  


"Actions speak louder than words!" He hollers, running forward with his fists raised, except for 'words' becomes a sort of strained gasp, because bear dude whirls around and catches him in the stomach with a punch that completely knocks the wind out of him. He vaguely registers a sickening crunching noise before he finds himself lying on the ground, his ribs burning with pain. Fuck. He hits hard.  


But X-Ray's had worse.  


He struggles upright, despite the fairly unpleasant sensation of being stabbed every time he moves, but he's too late. Bear dude's already gone, and, when he follows Vav's shocked gaze, he sees him scrambling up the side of a building. _Vav's_ shocked gaze. Damn, it's really nice of him to just leave X-Ray lying on the ground in pain like that. Real hero-like. X-Ray feels a wave of annoyance coming on, but before he has a chance to say something snappish, Vav asks, slightly in awe, "Who in the world was that?"  


"A spotlight-stealing jerk who fights dirty," X-Ray growls, still trying to catch his breath. Fuck. Whenever he breathes too hard, his side hurts. Everything hurts.  


"It does look like he was quite effective, though." That one comment from Vav is worse than everything else combined. It's hardly X-Ray's fault, right? It's the dumb buses that fucked it all up. It's kind of unfair for Vav to suddenly give all the credit to a random weirdo who could probably take on the Hulk when X-Ray nearly got his ribs broken for this. This is bullshit.  


"Why don't you start a fan club for the guy?" X-Ray snaps, defensive. "He's making us look bad! People are gonna think he's a better hero than we are."  


As if to prove his point, a newsboy pushes his way through the crowd of people gathering to watch the wine bomber limp away, and shoves a newspaper into each of their hands. "Read all about it!" He calls from under his too-big hat. "New hero saves city, upstages X-Ray and Vav!"  


X-Ray resists the urge to stomp the kid into the curb, and instead settles for crumpling the newspaper into a ball and throwing it away as violently as possible. He's about to say 'I told you so', but Vav interrupts him. "I'm inspired that another citizen would take up arms in the constant struggle between good and evil!" He says cheerily, opening the paper and flipping to the page featuring their article.  


X-Ray's absolutely blazing with anger at this point. "Screw that noise! People are just starting to realize how awesome we are."  


He's about to launch into a rant about how Vav should, y'know, try to actually take some credit for what they do once in a while, but he's interrupted again, this time not by Vav, but by an annoyingly familiar voice. "I still think you guys are awesome!"  


"Oh god," X-Ray sighs. "Not you again." Just when he thought the day couldn't get any worse, their little fanboy had to show up. Once again, he has to hold himself back from trying to physically tackle a small child.  


Vav, swallows nervously, trying to hide behind the newspaper. "Thank you... citizen."  


"'Thanks' nothing!" X-Ray snaps, spinning around to give the kid an intimidating stare. He looks back with sparkling eyes and a wide grin, but X-Ray's unmoved. "We will take you to court again, so beat it!"  


"Yes sir, Mr. X-Ray! I'll be 50 feet away awaiting further orders!" He gives them a little salute, leaning in close, and X-Ray swears that he hears him take a deep breath before scampering away.  


"Jeez, I think that little creep just smelled me," X-Ray mutters, turning back to Vav. He's preoccupied with the newspaper still in his hands, and when X-Ray looks over his shoulder, he sees why. Under the headline 'X-Ray and Vav: Heroes or Has-Beens?' there's a rather unflattering picture of them, well... tangled up in each other. X-Ray feels his face heat up. Jesus, how the hell did someone take this without him noticing and beating the crap out of them? And how did this article even get out so fast? It's been all of five minutes since the bear-murdering dickhead took off. This is total horseshit. He didn't get up at 2 a.m. for this.  


"You're right," Vav says thoughtfully. "Bad publicity is no publicity. Shall I write them a strongly worded letter? That'll show 'em."  


X-Ray's too relieved by the fact that he's actually going along with him to tell him straight-up what a shitty idea that is. "I say we go down there personally. Let's knock some heads in- X-Ray style!" He cracks his knuckles for emphasis and gives him a hopeful look. Vav considers it for a moment.  


"Yeah, but... can I still write the letter, though?"  


X-Ray sighs in irritation. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He's serious. Man, this is so lame. It's like your mom insisting she drive you to your first date so she can tell them embarrassing stories about you all night. Well, not that he would know, really (Dates? What are those?). But he imagines that that's how cringey the situation is going to be.  


This is going to be a long day.  
\----------  


"We go in on three," Vav whispers, sneaking a look at the window they're about to smash through. The newspaper's writers are bustling about, their workday in full swing. A perfect time for an ambush. "Ready? One, two-"  


"On three or after three?" X-Ray hisses, interrupting him. Vav splutters indignantly. Ha. Payback.  


"I just said 'on three'! Were you not listening?"  


"No. What are you gonna do about it? Write a strongly worded letter?" Okay, that was maybe erring on the line between payback and bullying, but it _was_ a pretty sick burn.  


Vav looks like he's on the edge of committing a violent crime. "On three," He says through clenched teeth, turning back around. "Ready?"  


"Yeah! Hurry up already. Jeez."  


Vav stares up at the sky and exhales forcefully. "One. Two." He pauses to give X-Ray a warning look. He raises his hands in mock innocence. "Three."  


Well, turns out, bursting through a pane of glass is not as fun or easy as it looks like in action movies and now there's glass fucking everywhere. Who would've thought?  


After X-Ray's done silently panicking and trying to brush all the broken glass off himself without touching it and fucking up his hands, he stands up straight, trying to look intimidating, and waves around Vav's newspaper. "Attention! We're looking for the pimply-faced nerd responsible for this libelous slander!"  


"I must also deliver this strongly worded letter!" Vav's doubled over, still out of breath, but he holds it up emphatically.  


All the writers look up. And then immediately back down.  


X-Ray's fucking baffled. What, is it normal for two guys dressed in colorful spandex to burst through their windows? What the hell do they even do here, other than completely trash people's reputations? X-Ray's about to grab a reporter and forcefully demand who the writer is, but then someone takes pity on them and waves a hand toward the direction of a desk by the opposite wall. He forces himself to be civil, even though some nerd's probably going to be getting a wedgie in a few seconds. "Thank you, good sir!"  


He impatiently waits for Vav to catch up, then starts towards the desk, making a point of bumping into everyone he comes across. Vav squeezes by behind him, muttering, "'Scuse me. Pardon me." X-Ray rolls his eyes. He has a feeling this is quickly going to turn into a good cop/bad cop routine.  


"Alright, punk!" He slaps the paper down on the desk. "Time to face the music!"  


"Also, here's a strongly worded letter. Read it!" Vav waves the envelope around. X-Ray can't help but roll his eyes again.  


And then the reporter behind the desk stands up and cheerily greets them, "Oh, X-Ray and Vav! How can I help you?" and he kind of forgets about the stupid letter, because, well- of all the people X-Ray thought would be slandering his name, this tiny chick with freckled cheeks and a sunny smile would be at the bottom of the list. Seriously, she looks like the kind of person who buys all the boxes of girl scout cookies available just because it'll make the kids happy, and actually donates to the food bank, and takes part in non-violent rallies against pollution or some shit like that.  


"So-" X-Ray fumbles with his words for a second. He expected he would have to punch some wimpy basement-dwelling dweeb. Not the world's biggest PTA mom. This is kind of messed up. "So you're the one responsible for this smear piece!" Vav's silent, probably struck speechless. X-Ray can't blame him.  


The reporter- Ash Samaya, as the placard on her desk says- picks up the newspaper he'd thrown on her desk and reads over it, her eyes lighting up in recognition. "Yes, I wrote this earlier." She gives him an earnest grin. "Do you like it?"  


"No!" X-Ray snaps, losing what little cool he had left. "And neither does my- partner." He'd turned around to point emphatically at Vav, to show this dumb reporter just how serious they were about this, but the look on his face stopped him right in his tracks.  


Vav's looking at Ash like she writes the world to life every morning, and X-Ray hates it.  


Something dark and wrong wells up in him, and he gives Vav a shove with his shoulder, maybe a little harder than he ought to. "Pay attention," He growls, and thankfully, Vav snaps out of his daze to give him a surprised look. Then his eyes fly right back to Ash. X-Ray's silently furious. Has he mentioned that this entire situation is complete and total _bullshit_? Like, he spends- what, 20 years trying to make Vav like him, and then this chick just breezes in and writes an essay detailing all the ways Vav sucks at his job, and now he's all starry-eyed over her? Yeah, no, okay. That's fine! It's not like Vav caring about him is the one good thing X-Ray has.  


Ash interrupts X-Ray's moping with another blow to his ego, earning herself a murderous glare from him. She carries on, undeterred."I'm sorry that you don't enjoy the article, but there is nothing in here that isn't true. The mysterious bear man swooped in and stopped the bad guy before you two even showed up!" Although technically true, X-Ray's still pissed off.  


"The buses are stupid slow! Where's your article on that?" He bursts out, patience expended.  


Ash's grin turns a little derisive. Oh, so maybe she _is_ the kind of person who enjoys dragging people's names through the dirt. "Sounds like you just can't handle being shown up by another vigilante." Well, yeah, that's also true, but she doesn't have any right to just psychoanalyze him like that. X-Ray's about to retort when she slams her hands down on the desk, eyes sparkling. "Oh! Can I do a piece on how the appearance of this new, more effective hero has ruined your confidence?"  


"Of course not!" He shoots a glare at Vav. Still staring at Ash like the sun shines out of her ass. Great. At least that knowledge will fuel his hate fire. "Keep our names out of your dead medium!"  


"Extra, extra! Read all about it!" The kid that gave them the newspaper earlier walks past, waving around a different one this time. "X-Ray and Vav's confidence ruined by new hero!"  


Ash grins, looking pleased with herself. X-Ray not-so-casually bumps into the kid and sends his stack of newspapers tumbling to the floor. It's a good stress reliever. "How do you do that so fast?"  


"This story is enthralling!" Ash says, not even listening to him anymore. "I wish I knew more about this guy. What's your take, Vav?" She leans over the desk, looking at him eagerly. Oh, god. Is she flirting with him? When is this hell going to end?  


Vav finally tears his eyes away from Ash, glancing around desperately for an escape. He ends up spinning around and pretending to intensely contemplate a potted plant. Thank god for Vav's inability to talk to girls. If he flirted back, X-Ray would probably have broken something.  


Ash waits a moment for him to acknowledge her, then smiles awkwardly. "Okay, then. Anything else I can do for you two?"  


"Tell us where the exit is," X-Ray snaps. They're not getting anywhere, and besides, he just wants to get Vav away from her. This is a huge fucking disaster. He wishes they never came here, and all he wants to do right now is go home and go to sleep and never ever acknowledge the existence of the local newspaper ever again.  


Ash points at the door, oblivious to his bitterness, and smiles pleasantly.  


"Have a nice day," X-Ray says, hoping his acid tone instead conveys the message 'I hope you get fired and have to watch everything you've ever written being systematically burned in front of you'. Grabbing a fistful of Vav's cape, he starts dragging him towards the door. Vav shoots Ash one last forlorn look over his shoulder before X-Ray pulls him through the doorway forcefully, trying to choke down the suffocating feeling of jealousy rising up in him.  


This feels like the beginning of something he desperately doesn't want to be a part of.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hilda thought 'Man, I wish I had a legitimate reason to avoid doing this paperwork,' she did not mean 'Man, I wish X-Ray would burst into my lab and knock everything over before demanding for new tech'. But unfortunately, as she's learned, events that take place in Monarch Labs nowadays are rarely in her favor. So here he is.  


"You look like you got hit by a truck," She says as X-Ray makes his way around the broken glass on the floor from the (thankfully empty) beakers he's just sent tumbling to the floor. He has dark circles under his eyes and a multitude of bruises on his face, and she suspects that his cheery green suit is hiding a hell of a lot worse. Ugh, actually, she doesn't want to think about that. At all.  


X-Ray sidesteps Orf, who's whizzing over to clean up the mess he left, and snaps, "Yeah, I know. So far this week, I've been punched in the stomach by a guy who probably murders animals with his bare hands, stomped into the ground by a Godzilla ripoff that didn't exist, beaten up by a guy who runs a knife smuggling ring, and very nearly murdered by a bird made of _flames_. I've had a little bit of a rough time."  


Hilda sighs and sets down her pen. If she knows X-Ray- and, unfortunately, she does- this'll take a while. "So you're just here to complain, then. Got it."  


"Well, I actually came here to see what new stuff you had, but now that you mention it-" He pulls up a stool to the counter she's using as a makeshift desk and settles down, taking a deep breath before launching head-first into a whinefest. "Vav went on another date with that stupid reporter chick, and then Mogar came in and beat the shit out of this waiter saying he was 'evil' or something, and then he got stabbed, and we got this detective guy to help us trace the blood back to him- and that's when I got beat up again, by the way- so we found his treehouse and then Vav's goddamn girlfriend burned it the fuck down. And now Mogar's gone and all we have is this." He whips out a letter and slaps it on the counter, gesturing to it helplessly. "Can you believe this shit?"  


Hilda stares at him. "I'm sorry, what?"  


X-Ray sighs, sounding deeply annoyed. "Vav went on a-"  


"No, no, I heard what you said. It just didn't make any sense. At all." Hilda takes off her glasses and rubs her eyes. She hasn't had nearly enough coffee for this. "First of all, Mogar? What kind of name is that?"  


"It's the bear guy's name, the one that punched me in the ribs. It sounds stupid, right?"  


"Yeah. So at least that's one thing we can agree on." She pulls the letter across the counter, gladly shoving all her paperwork out of the way. "Second of all, what the hell is this, exactly?"  


"A letter we found in Mogar's treehouse." X-Ray makes a face. "Y'know, before that stupid reporter burned it down. Hey, can I drink this?” He reaches across the counter and grabs the bottle of juice beside her. Hilda adds 'stealing food' to her mental list of 'annoying things X-Ray does that could potentially get him banned from the labs one day'. Isn't taking the CEO's drink by force technically theft? That's a punishable offense, right? Well, a girl can dream.  


“No,” She snaps, feeling proud that lying about the amount of desk work she gets done every day has taught her a few things. “Don't touch that. It's extract of citrus sinensis interspersed with hydrogen hydroxide. I've told you a _million_ times not to touch my stuff.” She's relying on the fact that X-Ray probably didn't pay enough attention in ninth grade chemistry to figure out that that's just a fancy way of saying orange juice.  


Well at least _something_ goes well for her today, because apparently, X-Ray didn't. He immediately drops the bottle with a clatter and scoots away from the counter frantically. “Jesus! Am I gonna, like, die from radiation poisoning now? This is your fault. Stay away from my funeral.”  


“Unfortunately, no. You're safe.” Hilda glares at him (it's only half faked) and moves the bottle back to her side of the table, glancing at the work she has to do. Then back at X-Ray. After weighing the pros and cons, she decides that listening to him complain about the girl Vav's dating is marginally better than reading up about the company's quarterly profits. Marginally. "So, anyway, what's your problem with Vav's girlfriend? The treehouse thing was probably an accident, y'know. Maybe you're being a little harsh."  


"Oh my god," X-Ray says in exasperation. "Are you seriously taking her side? No way was it an accident! She wasn't sorry. She just wanted a good story for those shitty articles she writes."  


"Speaking of shitty articles-" Hilda grins smugly. She's been waiting to rub this in his face for weeks. "Nice feature in the paper. You gotta admit, 'Heroes or Has-Beens' is a pretty good title."  


X-Ray drags a hand over his face and sighs. " _She_ wrote that article,"  


Hilda raises an eyebrow, laughing in disbelief. She didn't think Vav would be _that_ numb-skulled, but apparently, X-Ray's right about him being completely oblivious. "What, are you serious? Did- did Vav not read it or something? She shit-talked you guys into next week!"  


“Yep. He read it. He just can't bring himself to say _anything_ bad about her." X-Ray clenches and unclenches his fists, looking like he wants to punch something. Hilda didn't really imagine he'd be this worked up over something like Vav getting a girlfriend. Like, yeah, apparently she's an asshole, but- oh.  


Something dawns on her.  


"Oh my god, are you jealous of her?" Hilda asks, unable to keep a straight face.  


X-Ray hesitates for a little too long before answering, "No."  


"You totally are. Holy shit." She bursts out laughing. Oh, this is golden. She's never going to let him hear the end of this.  


He glares at the counter ruefully and mutters through gritted teeth, "Do you have any tech or not?" Hilda's losing her shit too hard to answer. He turns red. "It's not funny."  


"It's a little funny."  


"It's really not!" He explodes, jumping up and shoving his stool back with a loud scraping noise. Hilda sobers up. He's pissed about this, isn't he? She's never seen him this angry, and since it's X-Ray we're talking about here, that's an accomplishment. "We're supposed to be partners, alright? But pretty much all Vav's done this week is go out with her with the excuse of helping her with her stupid news stories. We haven't fought crime together since she burned the goddamn treehouse down!" She's so right. Jealous jealous jealous jealous.  


Hilda rolls her eyes. "Look, X-Ray- this is what love's like. People forget about everything except the person they're dating. Vav'll get over her. She hasn't even shown interest in him yet, right?"  


X-Ray kicks at the floor. "No."  


"Then there's no problem. She'll let him down at some point." Hilda pulls her paperwork back across the counter and drops it in front of her with a slap, trying to signal the end of the conversation. But apparently, X-Ray isn't done.  


"He won't- that isn't even why I came here, okay? I'm trying to get Mogar to leave." He slams his hands down on the counter emphatically. Something else falls off, but Orf whizzes over and catches it in midair. Thank god for robotic creations. At least they won't complain for five fucking hours while Hilda makes it abundantly clear that she doesn't care. "Well, I guess I'll have to do it myself." X-Ray snaps, interrupting her thoughts.  


"Yeah, I can't help.” Hilda says immediately. “I have... stuff to do." Honestly, the reason she won't help is 50% the fact that she does actually have to do this paperwork at some point, and 50% the fact that if X-Ray ends up whining the entire time, she's probably going to lose it. And by lose it, she means punch him in the throat.  


"I wasn't asking for your help."  


"Really? Sounded like a guilt-trip to me."  


X-Ray looks like _he's_ going to lose it. "Just- Do you have any new stuff or not?  


She sits back, an amused smile on her face. "You're outta luck."  


He throws his hands up and starts for the exit. "Alright! So this was pointless. Good talk, Hilda. Really good talk."  


"Where are you going?" she calls after him.  


"To fix all this shit."  


“Sure you will,” she calls after him, snickering. “Say hi to your ex-boyfriend for me.”  


“ _Shut the fuck up!_ ”  


Turns out she shouldn't really have said all that.  


Maybe she should stick to robots, huh? At least then you need some kind of literal cutting tool to split their heart in two.  


Whoever said metal's an unforgiving material never tried dealing with the human spirit, anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> instituting a new feature on my feed called "The Hell Hour". the hell hour begins now

Sometimes, Hilda's able to offer a different perspective on things. Remind X-Ray that he's blowing things out of proportion. Shit like that. Shit that’s actually helpful.

Sometimes, she just makes a goddamn joke out of everything.

X-Ray's managed to get himself pretty worked up over it by the time he reaches the mental hospital. And, of course, his irritation makes the whole procedure of trying to convince some pencil-pusher that he needs to see a patient that he doesn't even know the name of that much more tedious. Finally, after arguing for several minutes about whether or not 'official superhero business' is a valid excuse for coming in outside visiting hours, she relents.

"Okay, fine. You can see the patient. But you have to play by  _ my _ rules." X-Ray rolls his eyes- discreetly, he thinks, but she catches him anyway, and gives him a withering look. “Do not, under any circumstances, approach the cell, do not take anything from the patient, and most importantly, if he asks you a question, do not answer. He is an expert in psychological coercion.” She looks at him gravely over her old lady glasses as if driving home an important point, even though this is probably just horseshit meant to intimidate him. “You don't want this guy in your head."

At the time, X-Ray scoffs. "Not to worry. If anyone’s immune to psychological manipulation, it's me."

But when he's finally admitted to the cell, he's not so sure, because, well-

The person who was sending those letters turns out to be the  _ Mad King _ .

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asks mockingly, his grin every bit as ghastly as X-Ray remembers it. He would be afraid, but after this week, X-Ray doesn't even have it in him to be surprised by the King's involvement anymore. This city is complete bullshit. And besides, he beat the Mad King once before. This shouldn’t be a problem, right? He marches up to the glass separating them, casting a distasteful look around the King’s quarters, which are little more than a prison bed and a disgusting-looking sink and toilet shoved into a dark room that looks suspiciously like a janitor’s closet. Even though X-Ray’s trying to act like he doesn’t care about the Mad King’s plight, he makes a mental note to try to pull some strings and get this place cleaned up a little. Not everyone here is a murderer obsessed with world domination, after all.

Well, anyway. Back to work. "I need to know why you've been sending letters to Mogar. You know, that bear asshole trying to be a vigilante? Ring any bells?"   
The Mad King chuckles darkly, the sound piercing through the glass and filling the whole cell. "How completely desperate you must we to turn to  _ me _ ."   
"Yeah, it's awesome," X-Ray rolls his eyes, hopefully noticeably this time. "Let's cut to the chase. We don’t have all day."   
"Oh, but I do." The King sneers, raising his arms to gesture at his bare-bones room. "I have all the time in the world thanks to  _ you _ ."   
Oh, great. The monologues are already starting. X-Ray doesn’t have time for this. "Boo hoo. Tough shit. If you didn’t wanna be in here, maybe you shouldn’t have tried to take over the city. Are you gonna cooperate or not?"   
"Don't think you can play me. I saw the look on your face when you walked up- you weren't expecting me, of all people, to be the one in this cell. You're in way deeper than you dare admit."   
The truth of the King's statement is a little unnerving, but X-Ray still manages to keep up his sarcastic, couldn't-care-less attitude. "That's some  _ great _ insight, your majesty."   
"Keen powers of observation are key to learning about those around you," The King says pompously before taking a deep breath. "For instance, you wear Draco Sombra aftershave, and you use LaDue hand lotion, but only on your right hand." X-Ray shuffles away from the glass. Okay, now this is getting downright unsettling. What's with people smelling him all the time? At least he doesn't have to deal with this creep outside this place anymore. The Mad King notices his discomfort and looks rather pleased with himself, which makes X-Ray annoyed all over again. "I digress. Yes, I have heard of the man you mentioned. Or rather, the bear."   
X-Ray's eagerness gets the better of him, and he abandons the shitty attitude. "Really? Do you know anything about him?"   
"More than you, likely. But I'm curious about  _ you _ ."    
X-Ray almost says, 'What do you want to know?' before he catches himself and goes back to scowling. "Yeah, nice try. You're not getting into my noggin." They worked hard to get this guy behind bars. No way is he going to be manipulated into getting him back out.   
"You're right," The Mad King says, then launches into a dramatic, drawn-out sigh. As an afterthought, he mutters, "You're probably too dumb to answer my questions anyway."   
Okay, that's just a step too far. X-Ray isn't going to be insulted and belittled by two people in one day. He can do that just fine by himself, thank you very much. "Oh, yeah?" He splutters indignantly. "I can answer questions! Watch me!"   
The King grins, looking oddly pleased. Before X-Ray has a chance to even think of regretting his own outburst, he asks his first question. "Let's start with the obvious. Why did you come here alone?"   
"I'm taking charge of this mess. Vav is distracted. He's just-" X-Ray clams up, stopping short of admitting, well, that the actual reason he came here is that he's a naturally jealous piece of shit. "Nevermind."   
He's about to clear his throat and steer the conversation back in the direction he actually wants it to go when he happens to glance up at the King. He's leaning against the glass, looking at him with genuine interest. "Please. Go on."

X-Ray freezes.

This is the Mad King he’s talking to. Yeah, the guy who tried to take over the city. There’s no way he should be giving him  _ any  _ indication of how weak they are right now. But- but no one’s ever told him that it’s okay to talk about his problems. Nobody wants to fucking hear about them, even if it’s clear he’s being torn apart over them. Nobody cares about X-Ray, an overgrown problem child still bitter over being treated like shit in elementary school. Sure, they’ll ask _ Vav _ if he’s okay, because he’s cheerful and nice to people and it’s a safe bet he won’t bite their heads off if they talk to him, and that leaves X-Ray to yell and scream and throw a tantrum so people will actually notice him. And even then, all they do is tell him to shut up. Even Vav hasn’t asked how he’s doing in ages. That’s kinda fucked up.

Maybe the fact that it's so fucked up is the reason he tells the Mad King about everything. Vav's girlfriend. Mogar showing them up. His treehouse burning down. Getting beaten up and stomped into the ground and launched into the air only to come crashing down moments later. Hilda not caring at all, about any of it. The Mad King's an incredibly good audience, nodding at all the right places, commenting occasionally to agree with him, and bit by bit, X-Ray starts to get a little less stingy about what he tells him. And then way less. And then even less than that. And then it's all spilling out, the whole story of how his father left and all he had for years was a grieving mother and a bitter taste in his mouth and collection of bruises from his time at school, and how meeting Vav was the only happy memory from his entire childhood. All the shit he’s been holding in for his entire life because no one else bothered to give a damn. By the time X-Ray's done, he feels like a massive weight's been lifted off his chest. Like he can breathe for once in his life. He's never told anyone all this before. Jesus, what the fuck do you say after dumping the whole of your emotional baggage on someone? X-Ray has no idea, because as he said,  _ he’s never done this before _ -   
"You want to know what I think of you, X-Ray?" There's something not quite right in the Mad King's tone. X-Ray looks up, heart already starting to fill with dread, and he sees that he's leering at him with nothing but contempt.   
This was a mistake.   
"I think you've been lying to yourself,” The King says, his smile growing more and more menacing as he speaks. “Your father left when you were young, packed up and abandoned you. You've been feeling alone ever since. But it's been years, and you haven't grown up a bit. You want to show him you're just fine without him, but you know you're not. It's just a matter of time before Vav comes to the same realization- that you're just holding him back.” X-Ray can’t stop listening, no matter how hard he tries, not even as the King’s voice grows soft and dangerous as he delivers his finishing line. “And when the time comes for him to choose who he really cares about, he'll cut you loose... just like  _ dear old dad _ ."   
Fuck.

“Then you'll just be alone with your pet rock.”

_ Fuck. _

“How did you know about Dwayne?” X-Ray hears himself say, his voice as small and shaky as he feels right now. The reason this feels so godawful- at least he  _ thinks _ it is, it’s not exactly like he’s functioning at 100 percent right now- is that he’s told himself this thousands of times before. But when it was just him and his thoughts, there was always the possibility of it being a lie he was telling himself.

But now it’s the Mad King telling him that he’s useless and undesirable, the Mad King figuring out his little joke about Dwayne the rock and smiling nastily, the Mad King saying, “I  _ didn’t _ ,” and making it perfectly clear that everything X-Ray’s ever thought is true and he’s completely pathetic.   
This is a disaster. He needs to see what he can get out of the King and get the  _ hell _ out of here so he can ride out his oncoming anxiety attack in peace. "Tell me who took Mogar's mother," X-Ray snaps, trying to sound at least vaguely put-together. It… sort of works.   
"You still want to know? Even after  _ that _ ?” The King’s derision fades from his eyes, and he looks at X-Ray with newfound interest, like he’s sizing up a piece of meat. A piece of meat that he’s planning to throw to the wolves first chance he gets. No, X-Ray doesn’t like this new look at all. “You know, you don’t have to let that idiot of a Brit judge your worth. You could be an incredible asset to my cause.” Something about the way he says  _ asset  _ makes X-Ray want to get out out out of this room. He will not be an asset. He will not be a piece of meat. And yet the Mad King goes on, voice growing louder and more confident with every word. “Think about it, X-Ray. With your knowledge of Vav’s weaknesses, we could bring him to his knees. We could bring the entire  _ world  _ to its knees. There may be no place for you in Vav’s life, but there is one in the world  _ I  _ could create. You could prove your father wrong twenty times over.”

X-Ray considers it. For a moment, he considers it. Then guilt rushes in, and he stutters, “No! Vav’s- my friend. And you seriously think that after what you just said- you know what? Fuck you.” He turns around as fast as he can so he doesn’t have to look at that fucking cell and the fucking Mad King and remember the things he fucking said to him, and makes a beeline for the door.

“If you’re sure,” The King says, sounding almost amused. X-Ray pounds on the cell door and practically begs the guard to let him leave. The door finally swings open, and X-Ray’s filled with relief, and then the King interjects again. “Think about what I said, will you?”

“Go fuck yourself,” X-Ray snaps, breezing past the mildly offended-looking guard and towards the exit of the building.

The bus ride home seems completely surreal, and X-Ray doesn’t remember paying for a ticket or even getting on at all, only clutching a railing for dear life as panic and worthlessness and guilt that slowly seeps in. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t  _ not  _ think about what the King said. The words float around his muddled brain, only adding to the turmoil.

_ you’re just holding him back _

_ then you’ll just be alone _

_ you don’t have to let that idiot of a Brit judge your worth _

_ we could bring him to his knees _

_ you could prove your father wrong _

He could prove his father wrong.

X-Ray grips the railing until his knuckles are smarting, and then he vaguely realizes that he’s missed his stop, and that sends him into a fresh round of panic- which is, honestly, pathetic- before he realizes they haven’t gone that far past it. He doesn’t remember getting off the bus, only vaguely remembers trudging home and waving his mother away and descending the stairs to the basement. The comfort of home, as shitty as home may be, offers him enough clarity to make his way to the couch and collapse on it, curling in on himself in an effort to make everything stop. The feeling of everything happening as if in a dream, the guilt eating him because he almost, almost sold out his best friend, the conversation playing over and over in his head- it’s too much and he’s too small and too weak and he can’t handle it.

_ you could prove your father wrong _

Except no, he fucking can’t. He can’t because it would mean destroying his best friend, and being a hero is the only good thing he’s done with his life, and besides, there’s no way he could actually be  _ good enough _ to- to be a villain.

He’s disgusting for even considering it.

X-Ray squeezes his eyes shut and tries not to think about it, instead settling on something safe and familiar- video games. The one thing he’s good at. Kill/death ratios and hours played and what achievements he’s gotten and what achievements still needs to get, just numbers cluttering up his mind and keeping him from thinking about what he can’t do. It’s a tried and tested method. He can get through this.

Eventually, his heartbeat slows and his brain quiets down, and he drifts off to a restless half-sleep.

He wakes up feeling kinda shitty. Now, ‘feeling kinda shitty’ is a definite improvement over ‘having a full-blown breakdown’, but it’s not exactly a fun feeling to have, either. He lounges around for a while, feeling generally pessimistic and wondering if he should try to actually play some video games to get his mind off things, and then the door to the basement bursts open. X-Ray bolts upright, ready to blast a home intruder through the wall, but to his relief, it’s Vav, carrying a cardboard box. He perks up immediately. This is perfect. He can tell him what happened and apologize and they can go back to how everything used to be back when they didn’t have to worry about girls and kings and weird bear men getting between them. “Vav! Man, I have the weirdest-”

“Look what I got!” Vav interrupts excitedly, not even seeming to hear him. X-Ray’s grin fades, something unpleasant stirring in the back of his mind. He buries it shamefully. “The Mad King was the one at the institute,” Vav says, pulling out a fistful of newspaper clippings from his box and waves them at X-Ray. “He gave me a bunch of archive stuff that could help us out.”

“You went to see him?” X-Ray asks, feeling a bit betrayed. “He  _ helped  _ you?”

“Yeah, he was weird. But it worked out.” Vav says cheerily, as if they head off and do solo missions  _ all the time  _ and this is  _ totally normal _ . They’re supposed to be a team. A package deal. Well, X-Ray doesn’t have the right to condemn him for that, actually.

He glances at the clippings Vav’s now putting up on their pinboard and hesitantly says, “Yeah… Hey, did he, like, say anything to you?”

Vav freezes halfway through pushing pins into an article. For a moment he seems to consider what response to give him, then he says in a too-casual voice, “Uh, no. Not really.” It’s so glaringly obvious that he’s lying that a wave of irritation passes over X-Ray, curling his hands into fists involuntarily. So, there goes the possibility of apologizing anytime soon. He’s about to call bullshit, or say something passive-aggressive, or at least do something, and then the phone rings. For a second, the sound angers him even more, but then he realizes that it’s not just any old phone. It’s the X-Ray and Vav rescue hotline. Glad to have something to do other than have a one-sided dispute with Vav, who’s so oblivious to his anger that it’s making him even more pissed off, X-Ray vaults over the sofa to answer the call. 

He clears his throat and tries to sound cheery and full of bravado. “X-Ray and Vav rescue hotline! What’s your emergency?”   
“Oh! Hey, X-Ray!” Ash says, and X-Ray has to resist the urge to slam the phone back down. “Is Vav around?”   
“Oh. Yeah. He’s right here.” He crosses the room to slap the phone into Vav’s chest, his quasi-good mood dissipating instantly. “It’s your  _ girlfriend, _ ” Vav’s eyes light up, and he steps away from the wall to answer, giving X-Ray an opportunity to look at the articles he brought in. And by that, he means an opportunity to eavesdrop.

Even the eavesdropping turns out to be a disappointment, because all Vav says is, “Hello? Yes, it went very well. I got loads of new potential clues to go through.” Then, to X-Ray’s chagrin, “I’ll be right over!”

X-Ray scrambles for a way to get Vav to stay so he can calm himself the hell down and tell him what happened, but all he gets out as Vav grabs the articles right out of his hands is a surprised, “Hey!”. Vav, once again, seems not to notice him at all, and he and the box are halfway to the door before X-Ray regains the composure he lost from that small indignity. “What’s up?” He calls after him, and Vav stops, looking almost a little guilty when he turns around. The Mad King said something to him. He had to have.

“Ash wanted to go over the new evidence,” Vav says carefully. “See where it gets us. You know.”

At the mention of Ash, X-Ray gets ready to make a passive-aggressive remark, but he stops when he sees Vav’s almost pleading expression, feeling guilty all over again. Vav’s his best friend. He’s got no right to feel jealous over him hanging out with other people. Still, he can’t help but ask meekly, “Well… can I come?”

Vav smiles, but it looks a little strained. “I dunno,” He says, still hesitant, as if any word could send X-Ray into a boiling rage. Maybe he wasn’t so oblivious after all. “It’s gonna be really boring. It’s not really your cup of tea.” X-Ray’s known him long enough to know that that’s Vav’s polite, evasive way of telling him to fuck off. But even before X-Ray can even make up his mind about what he’s going to say, Vav’s backed out of the room without so much as a goodbye. 

The door closes behind him, and X-Ray’s left standing there alone, feeling a little betrayed. Okay, a lot betrayed. Kind of devastated. And a little like he’s about to cry. He takes a shaky breath and stares up at the ceiling until he’s sure he’s not actually going to shed any tears, then looks around the room for a distraction. This is fine. He can deal with this. He just needs-

Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait.

He spins around and heads to the basement closet.

It’s cluttered with shit, half of which X-Ray doesn’t even recognize, but he knows that what- or who, rather- he’s looking for is in here. He tossed him in here carelessly, thinking he wouldn’t need him anymore, not after meeting Vav. But now- now, in this cold, lonely basement, empty-looking even as he tosses old clothes and childhood memories and sports equipment he’s never used into a pile on the floor behind him, he needs to find him again. The closet’s almost empty at this point, the only things remaining in it forming a layer of clutter on the floor, and in an act of desperation, X-Ray starts digging through it. For a terrifying moment, he’s afraid he might not find him, but then his hand closes around a small, familiarly rough object, and relief floods through him. 

He pulls his pet rock out of the closet.

“Dwayne,” X-Ray says tiredly. “There you are, man.” He turns the rock over and rests him on his lap. Dwayne’s cheery drawn-on face smiles up at him. X-Ray makes an attempt to smile, too, but his heart just isn’t in it. In the end, he stops trying. “Looks like it might be just us again for a while, old buddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 4 Will Take a While so i leave you with this suffering for a bit


End file.
